Jack Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 I came across an article on a war jounalists views of why young men are drawn to the military. https://medium.com/war-is-boring/sebastian-junger-knows-why-young-men-go-to-war-f163804cbf6 The article doesn't present very good evidence and puts forth a lot of things without substantial arguments, but it did get me thinking on rites of passage. Junger says that young men are drawn to the military because it's one of the only ways they know to become a man. It occurred to me that young men have no direction from school, family, or media what they have to do to transition from boys to men. So I'm curious, what modern rites of passage have you seen, and how do boys transition to men?
PGP Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 What came to mind when reading this was the scene in Braveheart where the uncle comes to take young Wallace away. They are at the lament with the pipes and the young Wallace wants revenge and to learn to use the sword and the uncle taps his head and says to "first learn to use this". If boys get to ~18yo not knowing what it is to be a man, then it is because of what has gone before. It is not that they are unprepared, it is that they do not know what they want in order to be happy because they haven't seen happiness. A young man, any man needs a goal to give him purpose and I'm sure the military will give them an option, like "listen son, said the man with the gun....". The rites of passage I have seen in my life hinge on capability to conform and more than that, capability and willingness to reject independent thought in order to benefit the collective. IMO (as all of this is), it's not a whole lot more complex than the chimp behaviour mentioned in the article and lets face it, just look around and see the results. Teaching young men and women to think independently is dangerous and thus avoided.
Canoe_Captain Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 When I was ca. 20 years old a 25 year old friend told me: You only then transition from childhood to adulthood when you become financially independent. When you do not anymore require the financial support of you parents. When you start to pay for all expenses with your own paycheck. This viewpoint fits well with the theory of the welfare state infantilizing its citizens.
King David Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 A driver's licence and get loser pissed on your 18th bday. That is how the west does it
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